Tertiary aminoalcohol compounds play an important role in a variety of commercial and consumer products. For instance, they may be used as neutralizers in paints and coatings, in process water applications, and personal care and cosmetics formulations, as emulsifying agents, as corrosion inhibitors, e.g., in metalworking fluids, as resin solubilizers, foam catalysts, finish stabilizers, and/or as raw materials for chemical synthesis of other useful materials.
Tertiary aminoalcohol compounds are generally prepared on a commercial scale from nitroalkanes by a four step process. The condensation reaction (Henry Reaction) between aldehyde and nitroalkane forms the nitroalcohol. Catalytic reduction (hydrogenation) produces the corresponding aminoalcohol. A purification step (crystallization or distillation) eliminates impurity carryover to the final product. Finally a reductive alkylation (2nd hydrogenation) step produces the tertiary aminoalcohol.
It would be an advance in the art if new processes were developed that provided advantages over the known processes, such as reducing the number of process steps, increasing yield, and/or reducing manufacturing costs. Such an improved process is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 61/386,664, filed Sep. 27, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
It is further an object of the invention to provide such a process in which the overall cycle time of the process is reduced.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a process comprising the use of a catalyst for the Henry reaction.
It is still another object of the invention to provide such a process comprising the use of a catalyst for the Henry reaction in which the catalyst does not have to be removed from the reaction product.